First Canadian 5K road race champions crowned

Even before most of the stars from the Toronto film festival had a chance to wake up Sunday morning, the first-ever Canadian 5K road race champions were crowned on the area’s tony streets.

Pier-Olivier Laflamme of Quebec City and Jessica O’Connell of Calgary were the inaugural winners.

Laflamme, with a time of 14:34, edged Kyle Jones of Milton, Ont., who finished in 14.36.60, and Sami Jibril of Toronto, who posted a time of 14:38.30, to take the men’s title.

“The race went well. I knew I had a chance to do well, but there were a lot of strong athletes like Andrew Nixon who entered the event with fast times,” said Laflamme, 27. “I didn’t really know how I would do — I was hurt earlier this summer, so this is only my second race this season. My plan was to stick with the guys at the front and sprint hard at the end to take the win, and I was able to do just that.”